Luquillo Kiosks

This location is the bomb when it comes to eating! All types of fried fritters that include seafood, sweet plantains, or beef. Everything we tried was yummy. There is so many kiosk to stop at as you go down the side street. I enjoyed going and trying all the food I could this time around. It’s a must to go, especially after walking through the rainforest, El Yunque.

The staff at Wyndham Margaritaville recommended three of the restaurants in this strip but we were attracted to stand #31 (Konga) for 89 cent Modellas (10 ounce PR beer). The bartender, Miguel, convinced us to stay for lunch. What good fortune! My wife and I enjoyed whole red snappers with salads and sides (sweet plantains and mofongo) for $ 9.95 each. We returned two other times during the week for the inexpensive Modellas and dinner. The grouper, shrimp and baby back ribs were all good and reasonably priced. The owner, Joe, introduced himself and made certain that we were pleased each and every time. We thoroughly enjoyed kiosk #31 and intend to visit one last time before returning home. Update: Returned to Konga (#31) for the fourth time on our final night in PR. We enjoyed that night’s special of skirt steak with a salad and a side, along with multiple Modellas and piña colada. Once again, everything was great and the staff was the best. We thoroughly enjoyed the food, atmosphere and affordability of this kiosk during our stay in Rio Grande. We admittedly were first drawn to Konga by the 89 cent Modella and the casual ambiance but, believe us, the quality and taste of the local food at #31 is excellent.

I had the best shrimp mofongo at one of the kiosks. As a tourist, I felt that this place was less touristy and more authentic than most places I visited which was a plus. This place is a row of kiosks where you can drink and eat your way through. We tried out a couple of the kiosks and the food/​dranks never disappointed. The one kiosk gave my friend a shot with fire in it, we had never seen that before. She literally almost burnt the place down lol but other than that it was a fun time. I’ll post the video lol. They also had locals riding through with their motorcycles as if it was the thing to do. This seemed like a pretty poppin’ spot to check out to get somewhat of a authentic Puerto Rican experience.

What a great place to go to try so many different and authentic foods in one area. Does not appear or present itself to be fine dining, but its the place to go for great food.

Highly recommend a stop here. Great scene. Park on the beach behind the kiosks, work up an appetite in the surf and sand then grab some food.

Avoid at all costs. There’s other places you can find souvenir shops and great food (Old San Juan, maybe?) but this place isn’t the greatest. Most kiosks sell the same exact thing (mainly fried food) and the restaurants are overpriced. Nothing special about them.
We parked near the strip around 6:45pm and walked around the Kiosks for about 2 hours. After walking back to our car, there were about 4 cops cars because someone decided to bust into 4 cars and steal items. Luckily, no electronics/​high value items were stolen. I would park as close as you can get. DO NOT leave anything visible in your vehicle.

Picture a strip mall of open-​air restaurants with parking up front and beach out the back. Some are ramshackle, some are first-​class joints. Walk the strip and owners try to coax you inside. It kinda reminds me of a Jersey shore boardwalk, except that almost every kiosko serves alcohol!
Early afternoon on a weekday at least a third of the shacks were shut so maybe visiting after 4pm is the smarter option at the Luquillo kiosks. An awful lot of the stalls sell the same deep-​fried stuff, empanadas and corn fritters; most will make you a mofongo. Many have free wifi which really helped us verizon suckers *cough* I mean customers.
Gracious dining is available but not mandatory! I was glad for a drink, glad to get out of the sun, glad we didn’t have to choke down greasy food while standing around. But like the boardwalk it quickly ran into money.

Kind of overrated, pretty dirty and none of the food was amazing/​was under food lamps. I would skip this in the future, pretty touristy with only Americans and mediocre food.

We stopped at kiosk #38 to eat lunch and it was delicious! We got the appetizer combination, which had fried cheese, sorullitos, alcapurrias, cassava, and fried dough. It came with some guava, passion fruit, and mayo/​ketchup sauce and also had lots of plantain chips. We had the chicken mofongo, and the grouper filet. The grouper was a little too sweet for me but the mofongo was great. Later we stopped at kiosk #50 to get some juice. They had samples there, and they were all really tropical. I ended up getting the passion fruit, and it was great. There was a huge selection here, and there was something for everyone!

Let me say that is has nothing to do with the kiosks themselves. We had some great bbq and brews at #25. This has to do with the parking situation — after not being able to find an open spot, we parked at a location that had no signs that this wasn’t an appropriate spot. Well, it wasn’t and we returned from plunking down hard-​earned money for lunch to a $ 100 parking ticket. We could not contest, as it was associated with the rental car. At the same time, a party bus parked right off of the highway, with no problems. Beware!

A wide diversity of local food and drinks but still expensive for what it is. We had a great dinner but it was ruined by a local man masturbating around the corner looking at my wife. Police were quick to respond but use caution here at night especially with children in tow. More police presence needed.

Finally get to try those frituras from kiosks! I have tried several types of pastelillo and papas rellenas, with meat or with fish and seafood, but my favorite is the one called «morcilla». It’s a blood sausage with pig blood and rice. I always liked the Chinese and Korean blood sausages and found morcillas have similar taste to those I already love. It’s great.

I came here about 3 weeks ago and I still have dreams about the lobster I had during my visit. I stayed at the Gran Melía Resort and not very far from it there is a strip with nearly 60 kiosks of amazing food. The one that caught my eye was one that served grilled rabbit. So I ordered the rabbit and lobster for dinner. The rabbit was delicious as the meat was very juicy and tender… And the lobster. I think I need to visit there again soon to just have the lobster before I forget what it taste like.

Let me start with this– The single best thing I ate in PR was a plastic cup of octopus from one of the stalls here. I ate alot (ALOT) of food in PR. I would go back just to have more of that octopus. Oh, and there just happens to be a pretty awesome beach out back.
The best travel tip I’ve heard for dining in a strange place is this: Look for the table having the most fun, tell the server you what they are eating/​drinking (or point and smile if you don’t speak the language) and go with the flow. That’s exactly what I did at the stalls and it really paid off.
My advice for visiting the stalls is to start at one end and walk the whole length, check out each stall. Notice the crowd, the menu and what people are eating. Each stall really has its own character and specialties. Even though, the heat lamps out front all appear to have the exact same empanadas and tostones. Make a mental list of the best looking places/​things, then walk back and stop and order the ones you remember.
The aforementioned octopus was actually an impulse add-​on to my order. A guy (the one having the most fun) came up to the counter and ordered it while I was waiting for my order, a lobster taco and a coconut empanada. I pointed at the cup of octopus and asked the lady for one. The octopus was tender and sweet, more like lobster than come of the chewy octopus I’ve had. It was marinated in a lime and garlic sauce. They gave me a tiny portion cup of hot sauce as well. I literally drank the sauce remaining in the bottom of the cup. It was that good.
The fried selections really are pretty similar, but some stalls are much better. Prices are all pretty good. Service is very laid-​back. This is not a place to come in a hurry.
The food stalls at Luquillo were a highlight of one of the best days traveling I’ve ever had. We were in PR for a wedding and really only had one free day to explore. So, we borrowed a car, stopped by Kasalta bakery for breakfast and café con leche, took the (scenic) drive out from our hotel in Ocean Park, hiked in El Yunque, stopped at Luquillo stalls to eat, and lounged on Luquillo beach. I highly recommend this itinerary if your time in PR is limited, it was an incredibly great day.

We ate at booth #27 and had 4 delicious chicken empanadas and 2 lite beers for $ 12.75. Fantastic deal for a meal for two and yummy street food which was perfect for after a day of hiking in El Yunque.

Wednesday, 2:00 PM.
Quickie:
— Limited variety
+ Nice views
+ Plenty to explore
— Hygiene
And then???
Stop by only if it’s convenient.
*****
Constructive comment:
*Recycling and compost options

So many choices, you may have to stop at more than one… Or come back multiple nights like we did!
Night 1: Congas restaurant– this place caught our eye because of the wonderful hostess with a beautiful smile! Then we noticed Guy” visited here too! Our appetizer was awesome — plantain cups stuffed with a mix of seafood. Presentation of plates were beautiful
Night 1 drinks: frozen drinks just like in Las Vegas and New Orleans — try the 190 octane mixed with piña colada
Night 2: «25» — excellent burgers and pork chops!

This nightlife strip is amazing.
You can get GREAT food and drinks here.
The bars are distinguished by their numbers on the outside. Each bar has it’s own number. I went to #20 and #25.
You might get lucky finding parking because people are constantly in and out.
Crowd is diverse since there are a lot of tourist around.
If you want to party, eat or just chill with your friends enjoying the nightlife, I would recommend.

Anyone that says every stand serves pretty much the same stuff didn’t look that hard. I had fresh oysters one day, Peruvian lomo another and pizza the next. Yes, many stands serve fried stuff. But look a little deeper and you’ll find the gems here. There is plenty of parking during the day, i imagine at night it gets a little crazier. You’re pretty much right on the beach. So sit back, put your phone away, have a cocktail or Medalla and enjoy relaxing in Luquillo.

Half the kiosks were closed on a weekday afternoon (Tuesday), but the ones that were opened were really good! There was plenty of parking and only one tour bus during that time. Directions were a bit confusing, but follow the Unilocal address/​map and you’ll get there just fine.
–Tito’s Oysters and Clams (near Kiosk 60) had half a dozen oysters for $ 8. They’re super fresh and juicy from Louisiana and Boston. He shucks them right in front of you.
–Kiosk 53 chicken and rice! Super tender and well marinated chicken on white rice is the way to go for $ 8.
Those two were good but the rest were eh. There was one kiosk out of the 60 selling souvenirs and all the kiosks in the 50s were basically selling the same thing. Nice stop if you are coming to Luquillo or from El Yunque, but don’t go out of your way to check it out. Maybe it’s better when more are opened on weekends, but I’m sure it’ll be super busy/​crowded.